


The Wheels Have Come Off

by mousapelli



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Confusion, F/F, First Dates, Friends to Lovers, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Side Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts) - Freeform, Sleepovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 04:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18843394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousapelli/pseuds/mousapelli
Summary: Xion is trying to figure out if her sleepover with Naminé is a date and predictably all of the idiots she calls her friends can summon a keyblade a lot faster than they can summon up some practical advice.





	The Wheels Have Come Off

**Author's Note:**

> No particular spoilers, other than all of these people exist in the same time and space after the game, and also that the Land of Departures is a place. 
> 
> I wrote two parts of this for Shiritori but it wasn't done so I kept going. I totally have a soft spot for these two having a cute, fumbly get-together story where they do absolutely mundane teenage junk for the first time. 
> 
> I also have a huge soft spot for Roxas especially to not ever be able to use normal turns of phrase successfully and for the TT kids to just roll with it because it's hilarious.

"It's a date, then." Naminé smiles, the small, sweet smile that makes Xion's stomach go wavery even through the Gummi Phone's screen. She gives a little wave before she hangs up. Xion clicks her own phone off and looks up to find Olette grinning at her. 

"Iiiiis it?" Olette asks. 

"Is it what?" Xion asks, trying not to look flustered as she puts her phone down. 

"A date!" Olette shifts closer on the bench of the table they're studying at, leaning in conspiratorially. 

Xion picks up her mechanical pencil just to fidget with it. "I don't…know? What's the difference between friend-asking someone to hang out and date-asking?"

"Whether you want it to be date, of course. And maybe whether she does." Olette laughed at Xion's scrunched expression. "Oh, you definitely do. Bet I can make you blush just by saying her name."

"No, stop," Xion protested. 

"Naaaaaminé," Olette drawled, and Xion squeaked in embarrassment as she felt her cheeks go up in flames. 

"Uuugh," she muttered, covering her face with her hands, wondering not for the first time why all feelings seemed to do uncontrollable stuff to her face. "Can't we just do math?" she pled. 

"Ok, ok," Olette answered, usually quicker than the boys to pick up on Xion feeling overwhelmed by casual teasing. "But I want all the details on Monday!"

"All the details about _what?_ " Xion asked in mild horror. Olette only laughed. 

After finishing up her math homework and waving goodbye to Olette, Xion walked home still thinking about what the difference was between friend-dates and date-dates. When she got into the apartment, she found Roxas and Lea slumped comfortably on their couch, thumbs clicking away on controllers for the console Pence had lednt them. It was a generation back from the one Pence and Hayner had spent all last winter saving up for, but it wasn't like Roxas, Xion, or Lea had ever played any of the older games, so it was all new to them. Roxas was beating Lea unmercifully at Smash, but there didn't seem to be much glory in it since Lea was yawning every other breath; after a few days in a row training in the Land of Departure, Lea always came back to them exhausted and covered in strange-shaped bruises. 

Xion dropped onto the couch on Roxas's other side, settling in against his side in the way she naturally did. The curve of their bodies always seemed to match up without effort, as if their replicas had been stacked together before they got them, or something. 

Xion watched Roxas uppercut Lea's pikachu clear off the screen. "Hey, guys?" 

"Yeah?" Roxas answered, attention still on his game. Lea grunted. 

"Do you two ever go on dates?"

"Course we do!" Lea said, even though Xion felt Roxas shrug against her shoulder. "All the time! We went on one right before I left, to the movies, remember?"

"But I was with you," Xion reminded, wrinkling her brow. "Isn't a date when two people who like each other do something together?"

"I mean, sure, but I like Roxas and we did something together, so that's a date," Lea said. He cursed under his breath at the game. "So what if you're there too?"

"You're always with us," Roxas pointed out. 

"I guess I am…" Xion frowned. "Oh no! I shouldn't do that, right? Am I your third wheel?"

"Are wheels bad?" Roxas wanted to know, ever one step behind in conversational sayings. "What's wrong with wheels?"

"I think third wheels are," Xion insisted, rubbing her palms on her jeans. "Pence always says he doesn't want to be a third wheel to Hayner and Seifer using Struggle to flirt."

"Is _that_ what they're doing?" Roxas clicked his tongue. "They're not very good at it."

"Nah, don't worry about it, a third wheel adds stability," Lea assured Xion. "We're a tricycle of friendship!" He lost the round and tossed his controller aside in disgust. "Why do you wanna know about this stuff anyway, Xi?"

"Oh, well…" Xion felt the pink rise back to her face again and seriously, why did it _do_ that? "Naminé's coming to visit tomorrow afternoon, after school. We're gonna have a sleepover. Is that ok?" 

"Yeah, sure," Roxas agreed. "But what's that got to do with dates?" Roxas grunted as Lea dug his elbow into Roxas's side. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You're like a walking blond joke, you know that? It's a good thing you're cute," Lea said, rolling his eyes. Roxas snapped a _Hey!_ but Lea ignored him. "Only one reason somebody wants to know the difference between friends hanging out and going on a date, hmmm?"

"Ohhh," Roxas said in dawning comprehension. "With Naminé? Yeah, I can see it."

"I still don't get it!" Xion complained, slumping harder into Roxas. "What's the difference? Olette said it's not a date unless I want it to be, you say it's still a date even if I go with you…and every time I try to talk about it, my face keeps doing this stupid thing!" She pointed angrily at her blush, vibrant pink again by now. 

"Yeah, I didn't miss blushing," Lea commiserated. He eyed Roxas. "It's cute making you do it, though." He leaned in to smooch Roxas's cheek suddenly, making Roxas yelp and shove at him. 

"Knock it off!" Roxas told him, reaching up to scrub at the smudge of pink rising over his nose as if he could wipe it away. 

"It feels weird and it's totally embarrassing!" Xion complained. "Whose stupid idea was it to grow hearts?"

Lea and Roxas both pointed to each other; Xion rolled her eyes. 

"What if I want it to be a date and Naminé doesn't?" she asked, plaintive. 

"Yeah, that's a tough one, kiddo," Lea admitted. He reached across the back of the couch to ruffle Xion's hair. "But me and blondie here will go out and give you guys some alone time to figure it out, ok? No third and fourth wheels, promise."

"I really don't understand what's wrong with wheels," Roxas said in exasperation. "Lots of great things have four wheels!" 

Friday felt like the longest school day in the whole world to Xion, anticipation for Naminé to arrive crawling under her skin like the static just before casting Thundara. Roxas wasn't much better, now that Lea had promised to take him off-world to someplace surprising for dinner. Both of them got scolded, Xion for staring out the window, Roxas for tapping his pen against his desk so loudly that half the class was glaring at him. 

"Sometimes being normal sucks," Roxas crabbed at lunch. He dumped out the brown paper bag Xion handed him, and along with the PBJ and apple that fell out was a hot pink sticky note that read 'look forward to something better tonight' in Lea's looping handwriting, along with a doodle of a winking emoji with suspiciously spiky hair. "Uuuugh."

"Yeah, you guys are so normal," Hayner snorted as Roxas shoved the note back into the paper bag. 

"Go sit on your Struggle bat," Roxas retorted, making Xion snort juice up her nose. 

Eventually school came to an end; Roxas appeared at Xion's locker as she was dropping off her books, holding up his Gummi phone to show the message from Sora saying that he'd just landed his Gummi ship out near the Old Mansion. Waving goodbye to the others, Roxas and Xion made the trek down to the tunnels and out through the woods. 

"I don't get it either," Roxas said as they were walking, leaves crunching pleasantly under their feet. Xion tilted her head. "Dating. How it's different than normal hanging out. Probably what happens when you have both explained to you by your Nobody missions partner."

"Yeah," Xion agreed, kicking at a rock to send it scuffing up the path. 

"But that's good, right?" Roxas continued. "There's no way Naminé understands it either."

"That's…" Xion wrinkled her nose, then laughed. "That does make me feel better, actually."

"I do good work," Roxas shrugged, holding out his fist for Xion to bump. 

They were barely clear of the trees when Sora was hollering their names, waving wildly as if it had been ages since he'd been to town instead of just last week. He barreled into them for a hug, throwing an arm around each of them to drag both into a tight squish. The ocean clung to Sora whenever he'd been back on Destiny Islands, the fabric of his hoodie smelling like salt and sunshine where Xion's nose ended up pressed into it. 

"So I hear both of you guys have awesome weekend plans," Sora said, letting go when Roxas started squirming. 

"Potentially," Roxas said, tugging his layered shirts back down where Sora had mussed them. "Axel's surprises can go either way." He leaned around Sora. "Hi, Naminé."

"Hi, Roxas!" Naminé waved, smile still a little shy no matter how many times Lea (and Sora and Riku and Kairi and Roxas) told her to relax. Xion's heart skipped a little faster at Naminé's hair pulled back in a low ponytail and a pale pink dress that looked like Aerith had altered one of her own for her. "Hi, Xion."

"Hi!" Xion blurted, stomach 'going all caterpillars' as Roxas called it. She felt awkward next to Naminé in her orange Twilight Town High hoodie and a pair of Sora's old jeans with a rip in the knee. The caterpillars squirmed harder when Naminé stepped closer and Xion realized that they were no longer eye-to-eye, but that Naminé was now definitely taller. 

"Are you growing?" Roxas demanded, indignant. Roxas's eyes still barely came up to Sora's chin even after months in his own body, a fact which he complained about perpetually. "What the heck!"

"Sure is!" Sora slung an arm around Naminé's shoulders, beaming proudly as if he had anything to do with it. "A whole centimeter! We marked a notch on the wall in Ienzo's lab and he was _not_ happy."

"You'll start soon, too," Naminé assured a scowling Roxas. "Sora didn't grow much for half the year he was in the pod, then he shot up all at once in the end. You too, Xion." 

"Maybe," Xion hedged. Whether Sora was going to get taller than Kairi in the end was still a hotly contested bet between the two of them; privately Xion wouldn't mind it if Naminé stayed taller than her. She liked it, although she wasn't sure why. "Ready to go? We can get dinner in town on the way back to the apartment, if you want."

"Yes, please!" Naminé agreed immediately. 

"I wanna come too!" Sora said. "I'm starving!"

"Mmm…" Xion met eyes with Naminé; Naminé shrugged, looking a bit neutral. "Nope!" she decided. She gave Sora a cheeky grin and a peace sign, imitating the way Olette casually blew off Hayner and Pence once in a while. "No boys allowed!" 

The way Naminé giggled behind her hand was worth it, as was Sora's exaggerated pout. 

"Fiiiine," Sora sighed, melodramatic. "Maybe Little Chef needs some help since it's Friday night and all. Am I at least allowed to walk back to town with you?"

"Don't be a wheel, dude," Roxas advised, making Sora and Naminé both tilt their heads while Xion laughed this time. 

Xion took Naminé to the diner that she often went to with Hayner and the others. Naminé wasn't as excited about chocolate chip pancakes as Xion always was, but it turned out she'd never had a strawberry milkshake before. The way her eyes lit up when she took her first sip had Xion hurrying to drink some of her own chocolate milkshake to cool her cheeks. 

"I don't know what people do at sleepovers," Naminé admitted on the way home. "Do you?"

"I asked the others," Xion said. Naminé had a habit of walking closely, as if afraid she'd get lost or left behind, which meant that their shoulders brushed every few steps. "The boys were no help, they just stay up all night playing video games. Olette lent me some movies? I don't know what kind you like, though."

"I don't know either," Naminé said; her voice was light, but she looked sheepish when Xion glanced over. "Maybe we can find out?"

"Of course," Xion agreed. This time when their shoulders brushed, Xion leaned into it, just a little. 

It was dark by the time they got back to the apartment, the last of Twilight Town's lingering sunset slipping behind the rooftops. Xion gave Naminé the grand tour, not that there was much to see, both of them cringing at the state of Roxas's room before Xion pulled the door firmly shut. Even though Xion had had the sense to clean, letting Naminé poke around her own room still felt somehow nerve-wracking, although nice too.

"You have so many," Naminé marveled over the shelf with the seashell collection, brushing fingertips lightly over them, here and there. 

"Roxas and Axel bring them back from places," Xion explained. "It's a thing from…you know, before."

"So, seashells are something special?" Naminé asked. Xion hummed a yes. "I still have the one you gave me."

"O-oh." Xion felt flustered, like she'd said more than she'd meant to. She turned and grabbed the hoodie and pajama pants she usually slept in off her bed. "You can change into your pajamas in here, if you want? I'll go make popcorn! Olette said I definitely had to make you popcorn."

As if summoned, Xion's Gummi phone lit up with a text from Olette while she was changing in the bathroom, asking [figure out if its a date yet?] followed by a winky face. 

[NO] Xion texted back with one thumb as she punched her other arm through her hoodie sleeve. [HEARTS ARE STUPID?]

[its rly obvs that you came from sora] was Olette's response. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Xion grumbled to herself, heading to the kitchen. Scrolling backwards through her other notifications, Xion saw one from Lea that was nothing but winky faces, one from Sora reading [r u on a date?? is that y roxas called me a wheel????], and one from Roxas that said [don't use fira to make popcorn we proved that doesn't work]. 

"My friends are definitely not worth the power," Xion sighed, muting all of her notifications. 

Popcorn successfully made without resorting to magic, Xion was halfway through building a serviceable pillow and blanket nest on the floor in front of the television when Naminé reappeared. She was wearing an oversized T-shirt that said "Resting Witch Face," which made Xion laugh as Naminé sat down next to her. 

"Here's what Olette lent me," Xion said, handing over the tote bag full of movies. The choices were eclectic, for sure, a few animated fairy tale movies, a couple action, a couple romantic comedy, something with ladies in very big dresses, and one with an incredibly creepy mirror. Olette had stuck a sticky note to each one with some comments, like "Good explosions" or "romantic, happy ending" or "cry your face off." The mirror one simply said "terrifying." 

"Can we watch the scary one?" Naminé asked, making Xion blink.

"Are you sure?" Xion asked, thinking of the first time Lea had tried to scare her and Roxas with a movie. It had resulted in Lea and Roxas waking her up in the middle of the night to ask if they could sleep in her room. "Have you ever watched something scary before?"

"Nope," Naminé answered. "But I went to Halloween Town with Sora and it was fun! I was a ghost."

"Good enough for me," Xion said, popping the DVD out of the case. 

As per Olette's warning, the movie was terrifying. Xion and Naminé spent most of it huddled under the same blanket, Xion squeaking at every jump scare, Naminé clutching Xion's arm tighter and tighter until she was probably leaving marks. When it ended, Xion's heart was racing like she'd been sparring, but it was so much fun that she barely dared look over at Naminé in case she'd scarred her for life. 

Instead, Naminé's eyes were sparkling like frost stones, pale skin lit blue in the glow of the television. "Can we watch another one?"

"Yes, definitely," Xion breathed, already reaching for the tote bag. There was one more scary movie choice, this one with a ghost-pale little girl with black hair hanging in her face on the cover. Olette's note said "made Pence cry."

Just after the first jump scare, Naminé's thin shoulder digging into Xion's pleasantly, Xion took a deep breath and asked, "We could go see a scary movie in movie theater? The next time there's a good one coming out. If you wanted."

"Like a date?" Naminé asked. Xion turned her head to find Naminé watching her face from almost too close, gaze even. 

"Yes?" Xion hadn't meant it to come out a question, but her voice turned upwards at the end like it was. 

"Is this a date?" Naminé asked. "Right now?"

"If you want it to be," Xion answered. She could feel the stupid blush spreading up to her ears and hoped it was too dark for Naminé to see it. "That'd be ok by me."

"Just ok?" Naminé wanted to know. 

"Really ok!" Xion rushed to qualify. "A lot, a lot ok. With me. Um."

"Good!" Naminé smiled brightly and Xion realized with a groan that she was being teased. "I tried to say before, on the phone, that it was a date, but Ienzo said I used it wrong."

"We're hopeless," Xion chuckled. She held out her hand, palm up, and her stomach twisted like freefall when Naminé put her hand over top. They turned back to the movie, where the main character was in a gloomy library doing murder research.

"You know," Naminé murmured, drawing Xion's attention back to her, "it's cute when you blush." Xion bit her lip, voice stuck in her throat, the two of them staring at each other shyly. 

Just then the door unlocked and swung open loudly, making both Naminé and Xion shriek, which in turn made Lea shriek, and then trip over Roxas in front of him, taking them both to the floor in a painful tangle. 

"Ugh, you! You scared us!" Xion accused, heart still racing, Naminé plastered against her side with the blanket over her head. 

"We texted you like five times!" Roxas barked, shoving at Lea. "Would you get off me? Nobody likes a shrieking wheel."

Monday morning, Olette was waiting at the tram stop bright and early when Xion and Roxas got there.

"So?" she asked without any preamble. She leaned into Xion's space, eyebrows high. 

"It was a date," Xion answered, grinning sheepishly at Olette's excited whoop. Olette held up a hand for a high five and Xion slapped it hard. "And I've got another one next week, so you have to tell me all the really good scary movies."

"Finally, someone with good taste!" Olette praised. Roxas looked extremely dubious. "But there's plenty of other kinds of date movies to try out, you know."

"I guess, but it's not dead so I'm still kicking it." Xion tilted her head. "Right? Is that how that one goes?" 

"Really close," Olette assured breezily, waving at Hayner and Pence rounding the corner. "Keep trying. Oh, by the way," she added in an undertone, "you two are in my science project group. Hi, guys!"

"What?" Xion asked at the same time Roxas asked, "Science project?"

"Morning," Hayner yawned, looking like he'd rolled out of bed about ten minutes ago. "About this group project…"

"Nope, sorry!" Olette interrupted cheerfully. "Roxas and Xion already asked me and Pence since we're still helping them catch up, and we're only allowed four."

"What?" Hayner demanded. "Ugh, come on! Lemme just hang out with you guys!"

"No can do, man," Pence shrugged when Hayner turned to him, expression pleading. "There's only four jobs."

"Oh!" Roxas exclaimed. "Now I get it!"


End file.
